Need suggestion for SPS dominated tank lights

[SEvolution]

Hello,

My tank dimensions are 36x18x18 inches and im planning to do SPS acros only in this tank. Currently im running 2x noopsyche v3 pros and im finding some shadowing on corals which are right under the light. They are mounted 8inch above the water surface and corals start from 6inch under water surface or less (as some have grown) but corals do have areas where lights doesn’t reach so their colors fade away.

So I have shortlisted
- 2x ecotech XR15 g6 blue
- Orphek OR4 bars (orphek suggested 4x OR90 bars for my tank)

Please let me know which one would be better as I think I will have to move towards panel lighting to reduce such issues. Don’t want to add supplementary lights over noopsyche as they are already powerhogs as their supply is rated for 240watts for each v3 pro and Im not pleased with their coloration. I have tried every setting from this forum but it couldn’t match ecotech or orpheks color spectrum

 

[exnisstech]

I'd give any radions a hard pass. I have gen 4 xr15s which are stronger than gen5 and gen6 my k7s smoke the radions in a par comparison. Mobius kinds sucks also becuase it changes date and time randomly so the lights may come on in the middle of the night. For that reason my xr15s are sitting on a shelf.
The most recent time change

I'm running 2 reefbreeder photon 36 over my sps dominant tank 36x22x22" and am happy with them. I run more whites than some as I prefer a more natural look.

 

[lbacha]

Go with a Orphek Atlantik Icon one will cover that size tank perfectly and you will be able to grow any SPS you like under it with minimal shadowing. I have one over a 48x24 lowboy and 3 over my 8’ 300g display and I love the colors. I have their bars as well over a 40g breeder and my 300g and they are great lights but the Atlantik Is by far my favorite light they make.

 

[SEvolution]

Go with a Orphek Atlantik Icon one will cover that size tank perfectly and you will be able to grow any SPS you like under it with minimal shadowing. I have one over a 48x24 lowboy and 3 over my 8’ 300g display and I love the colors. I have their bars as well over a 40g breeder and my 300g and they are great lights but the Atlantik Is by far my favorite light they make.

I have consulted with orphek about it and they said even atlantik can have shadowing issues since I cannot place 2 atlantiks over 3ft. They are suggesting bar only setup which would be similar to having a t5 setup.

They have suggested this for my tank

4 x OR4 lightbars in the following configuration
1 x Blue plus
2 x Reef day plus
1 x Blue sky
For 90cm tank

 

[minus9]

Quanta Helix, they simply blow away other bars. Quanta Lights

 

[biecacka]

@exnisstech, I thought I was the only one having issues with my Mobius. It runs my MP40’s. I came home one evening and was in the basement where the tank is. It sounded like all 4 pumps were on 100%. I run all 4 at 100% daily at noon for about an hour. They then cycle through various modes.
Mobius told my it was 12/23/2018 and it was noon instead of 10pm……haha


Corey

 

[exnisstech]

@exnisstech, I thought I was the only one having issues with my Mobius. It runs my MP40’s. I came home one evening and was in the basement where the tank is. It sounded like all 4 pumps were on 100%. I run all 4 at 100% daily at noon for about an hour. They then cycle through various modes.
Mobius told my it was 12/23/2018 and it was noon instead of 10pm……haha


Corey

It's been a known issue that ecotech has not addressed. It doesn't happen to everyone but has happened to me enough that I shelved the radions and only use it for my 6 mp40s and 2 MP10s. I use my gsp movement as my tell that the times is out of sync lol

 

[Munns!]

I use 2 GNC Blueray X along with 2 Actinic GNC power moon led bars. GNC is an italian brand of lights. They run incredibly efficient and they run super cool due to their passive cooling. They are super resilient and reliable. They can even be completely submerged due to them being sealed. They have insane spread. They use medium intensity LED’s as opposed to high intensity. They use a much larger number of these LED’s in order to create really high par readings while having no hotspots. Overall they have less hotspots, higher par, and a greater spread than Radions. I would highly recommend these lights.

 

[bobnicaragua]

T5/LED hybrid are absolutely awesome over a SPS tank.

Out of the options you listed I would go with the OR4 bars.

T5>quanta>OR4

 

[X-37B]

3 xr15' on a 36". I run 3 gen 5's on a 30"x24x16. They give great growth and color running the a+ schedule.
I ran 4 on my old 80 48×24×16 and they grow coral well, imo.
Never had a major issue with them except they somentimes change time.
I have been lucky maybe but I just make a new program instead of trying to fix the one where the time changed and so far its worked.

I run Photons on my 59×30×21 and a rs170 35.
They are nice and have plenty of power.
I have 3 or4 uv bars and they are nicer than the old or3's I ran.
A Photon 32 would work well on your system and would be all you need.
You could add or4's also.

 

[SEvolution]

T5/LED hybrid are absolutely awesome over a SPS tank.

Out of the options you listed I would go with the OR4 bars.

T5>quanta>OR4

So you’re suggesting t5 to be main lights and OR4 to be supplemental?

 

[SEvolution]

3 xr15' on a 36". I run 3 gen 5's on a 30"x24x16. They give great growth and color running the a+ schedule.
I ran 4 on my old 80 48×24×16 and they grow coral well, imo.
Never had a major issue with them except they somentimes change time.
I have been lucky maybe but I just make a new program instead of trying to fix the one where the time changed and so far its worked.

I run Photons on my 59×30×21 and a rs170 35.
They are nice and have plenty of power.
I have 3 or4 uv bars and they are nicer than the old or3's I ran.
A Photon 32 would work well on your system and would be all you need.
You could add or4's also.

Photon32 mains supplemented by bars?

 

[SEvolution]

T5/LED hybrid are absolutely awesome over a SPS tank.

Out of the options you listed I would go with the OR4 bars.

T5>quanta>OR4

The reason Im asking here is that I have been witnessing dark areas on my SPS where polyps are not opening due to shadowing. I have discussed with fellow hobbyists in my locality and they say top down lights won’t fix this issue but supplemental lighting from bars and certain angle will. As some of them are going white from the bottom but they are healthy and have full colors and PE on top

 

[X-37B]

Photon32 mains supplemented by bars?

1 or4 on each side, but the 32 is all thats needed on a 36×18×18 system.

 

[SEvolution]

1 or4 on each side, but the 32 is all thats needed on a 36×18×18 system.

Photons are not available anymore there is some new light with the name of meridian

 

[Gk5321]

Have you considered an ATI Straton or Straton Pro? I might go with them for my next tank and they seem to push crazy par.

 

[SEvolution]

Have you considered an ATI Straton or Straton Pro? I might go with them for my next tank and they seem to push crazy par.

I have heard about them alot. Im looking for overall coverage as PAR is not an issue with current setup too. Problem is that my SPS are going white from bottom and from what I have researched is that ill need supplemental lights at certain angles to avoid this issue

 

[X-37B]

Photons are not available anymore there is some new light with the name of meridian

You can still get the 32 v2 in the US.
I wanted the Meridian but did not want to wait.

 

[bobnicaragua]

So you’re suggesting t5 to be main lights and OR4 to be supplemental?

Any combination you run would provide great spectrum and coverage.

I would use T5 for the whites (daylight peak) and OR4s for the blues.

 

[Gk5321]

I have heard about them alot. Im looking for overall coverage as PAR is not an issue with current setup too. Problem is that my SPS are going white from bottom and from what I have researched is that ill need supplemental lights at certain angles to avoid this issue

Gotcha, there’s a lot of custom mounts you can use to add angled lighting to your current setup. I have a neat laser cut mount for my XR15 to use the AI blade lights. Maybe there’s something similar you could do to add some angles in there.

My current tank is an SPS dominant 8 gallon so I don’t exactly have a lack of lighting lol